The Sugar Freakout of 1962
by BoatsAgainstTheCurrent
Summary: Somewhat of a sequel to my one-shot "The Sugar Freakout of 1959". Gordie, Teddy, and Chris decide to steal Vern's cherry PEZ.


**Hey everyone. This is sort of a sequel to my one-shot "The Sugar Freakout of 1959". I do hope you like it. **

The Sugar Freakout of 1962

"Where's Vern?" asked Gordie casually on Sunday afternoon in Castle Rock. He, Teddy, and Chris were all sitting on the ground in the middle of the empty lot, smoking cigarettes and talking about useless crap.

"He's feeding his PEZ addiction," Chris answered after taking a drag of his cigarette. He rolled his eyes, knowing that that answer would never get old and that Vern seriously had a problem.

Teddy sighed, "Ever since that time we went to the candy shop without him, hebuys even MORE candy."

"And not to mention, he refuses to let us go with him…" Gordie added.

He frowned slightly as he put out his cigarette.

Ever since the sugar freakout of 1959, Gordie, Chris, and Teddy had all felt a little left out when it came to candy. Vern had developed an even scarier obsession with PEZ and it worried the boys.

He spent hours in the shop virtually every day, very carefully sorting through flavors, trying to pick the most perfect candies. He even ran his nose along the PEZ shelf (what benefit that was supposed to have, the boys didn't know).

Yes, the boys felt left out. Vern had accused them of betraying him when they went out for candy alone, but this time, they felt betrayed.

"We deserve treats too, you know!" Teddy raged one afternoon a few days after the incident in 1959. Vern had once again brought up the topic, causing Teddy to blow up with anger. His face turned as purple as an eggplant and he clenched his fists together so furiously that they turned from red, to blue, to purple, and then back again.

Vern had a hard time coming up with something witty he could shout back at Teddy, so he didn't say anything at all. Instead, the two of them ended up beating each other to pulps on the dusty summer ground.

After that, the topic of the sugar freakout of 1959 became a tense topic of discussion. Teddy occasionally found himself disturbed by the memory, but he tried not to bring it up.

Now, in the heat of the summer of 1962, Gordie, Teddy, and Chris were once again led to the memory of the freakout.

But this time, they weren't going to shoo it away like a pesky fly. This time, they were going to do something about it.

* * *

At midnight that night, Chris, Gordie, and Teddy set out to Vern's secluded home in the countryside. It was a chilly evening and each of the boys walked quickly, huddled together in the dark.

"Okay, so remember, we just take the cherry PEZ's, nothing else," Gordie reminded the group.

The boys had decided taking only the cherry PEZ would not only be easiest (Vern kept the cherry flavor, his favorite, in a separate bag from the others), but that it would also irritate Vern more easily than if they took everything.

The whole operation seemed fairly quick-to-do, because Vern slept like a rock, but there were some obstacles standing in the way.

For one, it would be dark in the house.

Secondly, the boys would need to make sure they didn't wake any of the other family members. Teddy also warned that Vern's older brother Billy might be up and about in the middle of the night.

But despite the few challenges lying ahead, the boys were prepared.

* * *

Vern's house was cave-dark and as difficult to get around as a maze. Teddy stumbled often, followed by the low curses of Gordie and Chris. It took them half an hour to find Vern's room, and when they did get there, Teddy couldn't quite remember where Vern kept his candy stash.

"Jesus, Teddy. You've been here a million times! How can you not remember?" Chris whispered as loudly as he dared.

Vern was snoring peacefully in one corner of the room.

"Well, it's dark as hell in here!" Teddy replied, "Plus, he changes the location of the candy everything few weeks."

The boys stumbled hopelessly through the room for a few more minutes, praying Vern wouldn't wake. Finally, at one a.m., they discovered the loot under Vern's bed, found the cherry PEZ bag, and scrambled out of the house with a sigh of relief.

* * *

The next morning, Chris, Gordie, and Teddy waited anxiously in the tree house for any sign of Vern. Each of them was still exhausted from their long night, and they sat in silence, smoking cigarettes and playing cards.

With every floorboard creak and chirping of the birds, the boys jumped in shock, expecting a pink-cheeked Vern to come barging in at any moment.

"God, can't he just get here already?" Teddy said with glowing eyes, "I can't wait to see the look on his face!"

As if on cue, Vern came jogging and panting helplessly towards the tree house. His face was indeed pink, but Gordie couldn't tell whether it was from anger or from exhaustion.

Three loud, clear knocks sounded from below.

Chris put out his cigarette calmly and opened the latch.

Vern came hurriedly up the ladder, catching his breath.

Chris, Gordie, and Teddy waited patiently for some sort of response, some sort of shout of frustration, something.

But nothing came, at least nothing that the boys expected.

"Guys, you'll never believe this. I had the weirdest dream last night," He began to ramble just like it was any other normal day.

"First, you three came into my room and stole my cherry PEZ!" He said with a grin that said the boys should be in disbelief, "Crazy, right?"

"And then, and then, it was the strangest thing. You guys all turned into life-sized PEZ's! Gordie, you were strawberry flavored. Chris was lemon, I think. Teddy, you were raspberry."

Vern rambled on and on, still trying to get his heart rate back to normal again, "and then you all started dancing in a circle or something and singing this song that I can't remember the lyrics too."

Chris was in such shock at what had escaped Vern's mouth that all he could do was stare. Gordie couldn't believe it either; his cigarette had dropped from his open mouth, onto his lap.

Teddy raised his eyebrows and his eyes widened in amazement. He had been looking forward to a flushing mad Vern, with clenched fists and pink cheeks.

"Guys, do you think I'm… addicted to PEZ?" Vern asked with concern etched clearly on his face.

No one responded, but Teddy had to stifle a laugh.

"Oh Jesus, I'm addicted aren't I?"

He looked so worried that he turned pale and looked like he was about to hurl.

With a sigh and a glance at each boy around him, he said, "I'm never eating PEZ again."

He got up and slowly descended the tree house ladder.

After a moment of silence, Teddy cleared his throat, "Well, that was unexpected."

No, none of the boys had expected that, but they knew one thing for sure…

No matter what Vern said, or how much he meant it, or how much he even tried, he would never, ever, stop eating PEZ.


End file.
